


You Weren't Home, so I Left A Note

by orphan_account



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Bakery, Hopeful Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Liam is a Good Friend, M/M, PTSD, Suicidal Thoughts, Touch-Starved, War Veteran, happy holidays, shop owners
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:48:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28357266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Theo is a war veteran suffering from PTSD and none of his neighbors make any attempts to befriend him until Liam comes along and Theo gets the chance to finally be happy again by way of notes and cookies and maybe even love.
Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken
Comments: 14
Kudos: 56





	1. Every Story Has a Beginning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ReignWrites](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReignWrites/gifts).



> written for the amazing ReignWrites, happy holidays! I hope you like it, I was hoping to be done with this sooner but I just had a lot of health problems so I'm sorry for the delay but I got really into this AU and I hope it doesn't suck :) I changed it a little bit and didn't even realize it until I reread the prompt, but that just adds a little spice ;) Oh also I didn't have anyone beta this cause I have no friends so if there are mistakes comment and I'll fix them o7

Liam loves his job. The smell of the cookies baking in the oven, the soft jingle of the bell when new customers walk in. The cushony chairs that you just want to curl up in, the plants blooming in the windowsill. All of this made Liam’s job his favorite thing, so of course he has to move in when the apartment up above goes on the market.

There are stairs right behind the kitchen that lead up to his new home. When you get to the top of the stairs, the whole left wall is lined with windows with the prettiest white translucent curtains that do absolutely nothing to block the light shining through and casting shadows around the room. The back wall is old brick and has a flatscreen TV mounted on it and a cozy couch across from it with a wood coffee table right in front of it and an assortment of armchairs around. To the right when entering is the kitchen and just past are the two doors that lead to Liam’s bedroom and the bathroom.

Everything was perfect so Liam thought it was the perfect time to introduce himself to his next door neighbors, Corey and Mason to his left and Brett and Lori to his right. Corey and Mason were a couple who owned the flower shop and Brett and Lori were siblings who owned the tattoo shop.

Liam made each of them a container with an assortment of cookies inside and put on what he considered to be a friendly outfit before heading over to Mason and Corey’s.

He pushed open the glass doors into the flower shop and was hit with a variety of scents. The jasmine was overpowering along with the lavender and the wholesale had an underlying scent of the cut stems of the flowers. A bright eyed man popped up from behind the counter with a shy smile on his face.

“Hey I’m Liam, I own the bakery next door and now I’m living there too so I thought it was a good time to introduce myself.”

“Oh! It’s nice to meet you, I’m Corey, my husband Mason and I own this place, let me go get him.”

Corey swerved around the corner and Liam could hear his feet pattering up the stairs before a second set joined them and started to descend.

“Hello, I’m Mason, so you’re the guy who just moved in?”

“Yeah, it’s nerve wracking being the new guy here so I thought I’d make you guys some cookies.”

Liam hands the box over to Mason and shifts nervously back on his heels wondering how long it was appropriate to stand here.

Mason looked up from the box, “Hey do you want to come upstairs and talk? We can tell you about the neighborhood, the shop won’t get anymore people at this time anyways.”

“Yeah! That’d be great.” Liam sighs in relief and follows the couple up stairs that are eerily similar to his next door.

The layout of the apartment is pretty much the same which Liam finds amusing for whatever reason. The three settle around a glass coffee table.

“I’ll go grab drinks,” Corey got up and went to the kitchen leaving Mason and Liam. Liam anticipated an awkward conversation, but once they started talking they just couldn’t stop. When Corey came back with the drinks, he melted into the conversation effortlessly. He felt like he had known these people forever. They talked for hours upon hours about the most random things and Liam was so happy that he was able to make friends so quickly here. He was having such a good time that he almost forgot he still had to go see Brett and Lori.

“Hey, I still have to go drop these off to another neighbor but here’s my number, I had a great time, we should hang out again soon!”

“Yeah totally! Oh are you going to Theo’s? I’m gonna be honest man, he isn’t the best company.”

Liam paused, “No, I was actually talking about Brett and Lori but wait what’s wrong with that guy?”

Corey looked at Mason awkwardly before answering, “He’s a war veteran and had crazy PTSD. He never comes out of his house unless he needs food. Nobody visits him and the only reason we’re sure he’s still here is because sometimes we can hear him scream after one of his nightmares because his place is right next to ours.”

Liam felt like his heart had been squeezed a little. But he didn’t have time for this, he had to go over to Brett and Lori’s before the chocolate melted.

“Oh. Well thanks for telling me, bye.” Liam walked out after brief hugs and found himself at the door of the tattoo shop.

He walked in and was faced with a shop that had black walls and plants everywhere. There were drawings and doodles hung up on the walls and polaroids of tattoos he assumes were done here. He looked up to see some type of Adonis in front of him. The guy looked to be around the same age as Liam and was tall and both muscular and slender at the same time. His hair was that perfect combination between messy and neat that complimented the smirk on his lips.

“Hey, what brings you here?” A shorter but equally intimidating woman comes out from the back room. Her eyes were accented by sharp eyeliner and together they practically demanded attention.

“Uh, I’m your new neighbor.” Liam responds dumbly, feeling slightly inadequate.

“Oh! Well nice to meet you! I’m Lori and this is my brother Brett.”

“Hello,” the man finally pipes up from his position leaning against the counter.

“So I’m Liam and I run the bakery next door, and I brought over some cookies to say hello.”

“Do you bring cookies every time you say hello because in that case, you’re welcome any time.” Brett was still smirking as he said this and Liam didn’t know if he was turned on or repulsed by his attitude.

“Ignore him, thank you very much for the cookies. I'm sure they’re really good.” Lori was much nicer than her brother. Sometimes Liam wishes he liked girls.

Liam stood there not sure of what to do before Brett decided to talk.

“So have you visited all the neighbors yet or are we your first stop?”

“I just left Mason and Corey’s at the flower shop, they were really nice.”

“So you haven’t met batty yet?” 

It took Liam less than he thought to figure out who Brett was referencing which was when he decided that he was an asshole.

“Brett! You can’t call him that!” Liam liked Lori much more.

“Has he knocked you out before? Because last I checked it was me he punched it in the face when he was having one of his little episodes.” The room fell silent and Liam added insensitive to the growing list of things he didn’t like about Brett Talbot.

“Well I’ll go, it was nice to meet you, bye.”

He heard Brett scoff before he was out of there and walking the ten steps to the bakery door.

Liam was planning on giving cookies to the rest of his neighbors as well but that could wait till tomorrow.

*

Liam had just finished giving cookies to Lydia and Allison who were very sweet and promised to show him how to use a bow and arrow and had also visited Malia and Stiles who were quite honestly the funniest people he had ever met. He also met Scott and Isaac who were probably stoned the whole time and now only Theo was left to meet.

Liam knocked on the door and stood back. One, Two, three, twelve, thirty- two, seventy. Nobody answered. He tried knocking again to the same results. Liam sighed and set the box in front of the door with a little note he had prepared if he faced this scenario.

*

A couple of days passed and everyone brought back their containers except for Theo. In hindsight Liam probably should’ve used disposable boxes but it was too late now. He headed over to Theo’s and found the container sitting in the exact place he left it but empty except for a note that simply read “Thank you.” Liam honestly thought all the cookies were going to be left in the box still. As far as he knew, the only interaction that has occurred between this man and his neighbors was when he punched Brett in the face.

Liam smiled to himself and decided that he would leave another batch.

He didn’t know which cookies the man liked the best so he made another assortment and left a note that asked, “Hey! Glad you liked them! Which ones were your favorite? -Liam.”

Liam didn’t want to overwhelm Theo and he thought this was an easy way to try to break the ice. 

He left them in the same spot and when he came back 3 days later sure enough, there was his container with the new note. “I liked the peanut butter and the white chocolate macadamia.”

Still brief, but longer than last time. So Liam decided that he would keep doing this. Every time, he left a box of peanut butter and white chocolate macadamia cookies plus one random one for fun and then three days later he would get a note.

“Here’s a box of your favorites plus one that I made up, tell me how you like it :)”  
“It was good but I think it’d be good with walnuts.”

“Thanks for the feedback, I’ll keep it in mind. I can see you definitely do not have a nut allergy :)”  
“No I do not. But I am allergic to apples which is kinda weird”

“That is odd. I’m allergic to cilantro which is also kinda weird because I love Mexican food :)”  
“Mexican food is good. I like Italian better though, my mom made homemade pasta on my birthday.”

“My mom would make a platter of tacos for mine. When’s your birthday? You seem like a capricorn:)”  
“It’s actually November 23rd which I believe makes me a sagittarius so I guess you’re close.”

“Sagittarius is a good one. I was born on August 7th so I’m a Leo which a lot of people says makes sense for me :)”  
“From someone who communicates with you solely through notes I can say that you do indeed have Leo energy.”

“Ahh. Would you like to stop by and talk to me in person then :)”  
“Oh. Most people are scared of me. Are you sure?”

“Yeah of course! The bakery closes at 7 tomorrow and then we can talk! I’ll have cookies :)”  
“Okay.”

Liam was nervous with anticipation all day just staring at the clock which seemed to make the time pass slower. When the clock finally hit seven, he switched the sign to closed but he kept the lights on as he cleaned up and waited.

When the bell above the door finally rang, Liam was shocked. He almost expected to see Mason or anyone else there but standing there was a muscular man who stood shyly. His eyes flickered all across the room nervously.

“Hey are you Theo?”

The man caught his eyes and nodded. “Yeah that’s me, and I presume you’re Liam?”

“Yup! Here sit down I’ll be over with drinks and snacks.”

When Liam got back over he found Theo sat with his back to the corner which gave him vision of the whole room.

The conversation started off a little nervous, but as time went by, Theo’s walls seemed to shrink and he talked more comfortably.

“Everyone here knows I’m a war veteran and just leaves it at that, but do you want to know why? I mean come on I’m 27 I am not nearly old enough to be a war veteran.”

“Oh you don’t have to tell me.”

“No it’s fine, it’s nice that someone is here to tell the story to anyways.”

“I enlisted when I was 18 and I met some of the best people of my life. They became like my family when I wasn’t home. We would spend all of our free time together and when we went on missions we always had each other's backs. One of them I was dating. His name was Josh and we were together for 4 years. 4 years. When I was 22 we were sent on what was supposed to be a simple mission. I know that’s what all of these war sob stories start with but I'm actually serious. It wasn’t even really a mission. We were just supposed to take the rovers to pick up some supplies. We were almost back. Maybe 10 minutes out when the rovers all exploded. There weren’t enough seats so I was in the back with the supplies so when everyone died I was ok because all the shrapnel got embedded into the supplies and I landed on a sand bag. How stupid is that? All of my friends died from a supply run and I didn’t because of a fucking sandbag.”

Through this whole speech, Liam went through a rollercoaster of emotions. First he was happy because the story was really sweet. Then he was intrigued when Theo mentioned he wasn't straight which he knows was an awful thing to notice thank you very much. Then he was just so sad for Theo. 

Theo was staring blankly at a wall taking deep breaths. Tears dripped gently down his face. The picture was heartbreaking. Was it ok to hug him? 

"Can I hug you?"

Theo looks taken aback at the question, finally snapping out of his trance. He gives a minuscule nod and Liam is quick to wrap his arms around the broken man who buries his face into Liam's shoulder. Liam can feel his breaths growing stronger until they even out but neither pull away. Liam because he wants Theo to choose when the hug ends and Theo because he can't remember the last time someone held him and he just wants a little more time.


	2. Hope Restored

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short and sweet end for my short and sweet boys

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for how long this took, I switched it up and went through Theo's perspective for this part which is why there's a lot less dialogue, I thought it showed the difference between the way the two perceive emotions, please enjoy this short but sweet end to my little fic <3

Theo never thought he would ever feel love again, he wasn’t expecting it at all. But how could he help it when Liam was just everything? He didn’t push him into anything and he was so accommodating to anything Theo needed. The first time they had a sleepover, which he knows sounds childish, Theo slept through the whole night. The second time was when Liam woke up to screaming. And yet he didn’t run like everyone else did when Theo became too much and to be honest it made Theo feel guilty. He didn’t want to be a burden but it was too hard to deny the affection and care he was being given for the first time in years. 

Theo knew Liam was gay and Liam knew Theo was a bisexual. In hidden moments, Theo saw the way Liam looked at him. His eyes would get so fond and his cheeks would blush over. In rare cases Theo could feel Liam’s eyes literally tracing his body causing heat to rush through him. 

This is all why Theo kissed him.

It wasn’t an extraordinary day. To be honest it was a pretty bad one. There was a storm and the sounds always triggered Theo so he left his apartment and showed up at Liam’s. 

“Can I stay here?”

He knew explaining would be a good idea but he was so tired and anxious that these were the only words he managed to form together.  
But Liam was an angel so he didn’t care; he just replied with an, “Of course,” in that warm way that only he could pull off.

But he just kept caring and making sure Theo was ok. In 20 minutes Theo went from standing in the rain to being bundled up in blankets with a hot chocolate and endless pastries while watching Finding Nemo.

Of course Theo knew that Liam cared for him but the storm having left him on edge had him so much more aware of everything happening. So when Liam tucked the blanket under his feet and ordered all of his pastries by how much he knew Theo liked them in relation to how close they were to Theo, he noticed.  
When Liam finally stopped moving for once in his life, he asked Theo a simple, “Is there anything else that you need?”

You, you, you, you, you, was all ringing through Theo’s head but he didn’t notice that he spoke aloud until he witnessed Liam malfunction. 

“What do you mean me?” Theo responded with the effective move of grabby hands and right when Liam was in range, he pulled him down on top of him. 

Your average person might have caught themselves with their arms but Liam being the clutz he is fell full body onto Theo leaving their noses pressed against each other’s.  
Theo knew Liam wouldn’t do anything because he was too scared of scaring Theo, so Theo was the one to finally press their lips together. 

How do you explain the feeling of kissing the person who saved you? How do you explain the safety, the happiness and the overwhelming feeling of how right this was?  
If you had told Theo a year ago that a baker moving in across the street would be the reason he’s still here, he wouldn’t even laugh he would just ignore you because hope was too much back then. 

Liam gave him his hope back.

Theo smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading, I hope I kicked your feels a little I know I could've just stopped at last chapter and called it a hopeful ending but I wanted a little more of a direction to push that into, I appreciate all comments and kudos, thank you!

**Author's Note:**

> Panicking because you've reached this point, hope you enjoyed


End file.
